Better

Full time

Substitution

Added time

Action Shott

He’s been immense today.

(Image: The Chronicle)

16:46Shane Ireland

Substitution

Clayton Donaldson is on for his first Blues appearance in 3 months. Lukas Jutkiwiecz makes way.

16:44Shane Ireland

UnLukey

Kieftenbeld breaks excellently down the centre after Gayle’s stray pass. He has Gardner to his right and Jutkiewicz to his left. He opts for the latter but Jutkiewicz can only drive a shot straight down Darlow’s throat.

16:41Shane Ireland

Substitution

Third and final sub for Rafa Benitez. He brings off Yoan Gouffran, who is replaced by Christian Atsu.

16:40Shane Ireland

Fantastic save again

Gardner is dispossessed on halfway, the ball finds it way to Ritchie 25 yards out, and the winger whacks a low effort towards goal. Kuszczak, though, is equal to it and palms it round the post for a corner which comes to nothing. Another big save.

16:37Shane Ireland

Substitution

Ayoze Perez is off for the visitors, Jonjo Shelvey on.

16:33Brian Dick

Light breeze

Gayle goes down, blown over by the breeze from Shotton’s sweeping leg. Ritchie drove the free kick into the wall and Gayle splurted the the rebound through to Kuszczak.

16:30Shane Ireland

Deflected wide

Gardner advances on goal with Jutkiewicz screaming for a pass to his right. The midfielder opts to shoot though, and his shot is deflected wide for a corner.

16:28Brian Dick

Pole position

Blues’ goalkeeper is emerging as a central character in this second half.

Gayle got in behind the defence and his pull back ran to Jack Colback whose shot looped off a defender and Kuszczak had to react quickly to prevent it dropping on to Gayle’s head.

16:26Shane Ireland

Corner to Blues

Comes to nothing. Gardner, who used to play for Sunderland, receives plenty of abuse from the away fans as he places the ball down in front of the Gil Merrick. His corner, though, is nothing to shout about as Darlow punches clear and is awarded a free kick.

16:22Shane Ireland

Substitution

First change of the afternoon. Newcastle’s Daryl Murphy makes way for Dwight Gayle.

16:21Shane Ireland

That's got the crowd up

The St Andrew’s crowd are right behind their side now.

16:20Brian Dick

Close

Gardner lifted a delightfully weighted pass over the left back position which Jutkiewicz took down well. Unfortunately the angle was always too acute and his hooked shot flew across the face of goal.

16:17Brian Dick

Attendance

19,796 - more than 3,000 from Newcastle. And they’ve barely closed their mouths to be fair to them.

16:14Brian Dick

Superb save

Perez found Ritchie on the edge of the area, Robinson blocked his shot from the D. The ball flew out for a corner which Ritchie curled on to Murphy’s head. The striker got a really firm contact on it but Kuszczak flew to his left and tipped away. What a stop.

16:11Brian Dick

Blocked

Murphy held off Shotton worked his way into the area and unleashed a left foot shot which was deflected behind by Bielik. Kuszczak came out to punch the corner.

16:04Brian Dick

The teams re-emerge

Blues will be attacking the Gil Merrick stand in this half. Neither side has made a substitution yet. And we’re away.

16:02Brian Dick

Second half

Really decent stuff from Blues in that opening 45. They’ve got to do it all again in the second period though. One wonders how long it will be before we see Jonjo Shelvey. So far, so good, though. Keep RIght On keeping it up.

15:58Shane Ireland

Pretty pleased

15:51Shane Ireland

Analysis

That was an encouraging first half from Blues’ point of view. They’ve matched Newcastle so far and have had chances themselves. Shotton has been brilliant in the middle of defence, cutting out some dangerous passes and robbing Ritchie of the ball when it looked as though he would score. Blues look much better going forward than in the first 45 at Cardiff last week.

15:47KEY EVENT

Half time

Blues 0 Newcastle 0

15:46

Added time

Just the one minute - as Newcastle over-elaborate in the box and Davis works the ball clear.

15:44

Offside

Blues had trouble clearing the ball and it was heaved into the box, Newcastle won the knock down and Kuszczak pulled off a brilliant save.

Newcastle followed up to bundle the ball into the net but Ritchie was offside. That would have been harsh.